Beekeepers tend to fly around

A national meeting of the American Bee Keepers Federation is
scheduled for Thursday through Jan. 16 at the Marriott Hotel in San
Diego. That information came from De Luz resident Tom Glenn, owner
of Glenn Apiaries. Asked for a number a reader could call for
further information if he or she wanted to attend the meeting,
Glenn responded with (912) 427-4233, but cautioned "It's in
Georgia." California, he added, gets a lot of bee meetings,
especially at this time of year.

Glenn advertised his stock in trade in the January 2001 edition
of the San Diego County Farm Bureau News, a monthly agricultural
journal. His ad reads: "Honey Bees Available. Organic growers only.
De Luz area. (760) 728-1731 or queenb95@aol.com."

"Our business is raising breeder queens which we sell to other
beekeepers, who then raise their own queens for their hives," Glenn
said. The stipulation "Organic growers only" appears in his ad, he
explained, because he is interested in protecting his bees, as much
as possible, from pesticides. He concedes that there is only so
much that can be done for their safety. He observed, however, that
in their search for nectar "Bees only go as far as they need to go"
-- but that could be a mile or more. At the same time, "if there's
a big flower field next door, they won't travel further."

Bee season, Glenn said, is about to begin. As the days get
longer -- as the flowers bloom -- the bee population level
increases, and the bees get active. Some winters are hard on bees,
he said; some succumb to diseases, such as mites. Even feral (wild)
bees don't always survive. "Some years are better than others."

Glenn is not one of the itinerant apiarists whose hives you may
see in avocado groves in the Fallbrook area when there's bloom on
the trees. Those beekeepers may have been in the Central Valley
earlier in the year for almond pollination, he said; and they may
go from here to the Imperial Valley, for the melons. Raising
alfalfa seed in the Imperial and Central valleys also presents a
big moneymaking opportunity for beekeepers, who lease out their
hives.

"Each box is a hive," Glenn explained. "Different crops bring
different prices per hive. Avocados run around $30; almonds, around
$50. Melons might be $25."

Not a tyro in his field, Glenn has been in the bee business in
North County for nearly a quarter of a century. "We moved to
Fallbrook and started this business in 1977," Glenn said. Since
that time, Tom and Suki Glenn have produced more than a
quarter-million queen bees. Additional information about bees and
beekeeping may be found on the Glenn Apiaries Web site,
http://member.aol.com/queenb95.

Contact columnist Betty Johnston at (760) 728-5511 or (760)
451-5009 or bjohnston@nctimes.com or johnston@nctimes.net. You may
also read her column on the Internet at www.nctimes.com.